He Mengyang, Guo Jinxia, Yu Shunyao, Lian Hao, Zhan Ruijie, Luo Rongrong, Shi Zhifei, Zhuang Zhidong, Cai Wenpeng
Department of Psychology, School of Sports Medicine, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, China.
Faculty of Psychology, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
BMC Psychol. 2025 Jan 30;13(1):86. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02376-x.
Anxiety is known to significantly impair cognitive function, particularly attentional control. While exercise has been demonstrated to alleviate these cognitive deficits, the precise neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. This study examines the effects of exercise on attentional control in individuals with high trait anxiety, based on attentional control theory, which suggests that such individuals have reduced top-down attention. Thirty-eight participants were randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a reading group. The exercise group engaged in 30 min of moderate-intensity cycling, while the reading group spent 30 min reading quietly. In Experiment 1, goal-directed attention was assessed using a cue-object paradigm, and in Experiment 2, inhibitory control was evaluated through a visual search task. EEG data indicated that the exercise group exhibited significantly larger Pd components in both experiments, suggesting enhanced attentional focus and improved inhibition of distractors. These findings suggest that aerobic exercise enhances top-down attentional processes, particularly goal-directed attention and distractor inhibition, offering potential as an intervention for individuals with high trait anxiety.
众所周知，焦虑会显著损害认知功能，尤其是注意力控制。虽然运动已被证明可以减轻这些认知缺陷，但其背后确切的神经机制仍知之甚少。本研究基于注意力控制理论，探讨运动对高特质焦虑个体注意力控制的影响，该理论表明此类个体自上而下的注意力有所降低。38名参与者被随机分为运动组或阅读组。运动组进行30分钟的中等强度骑行，而阅读组则安静地阅读30分钟。在实验1中，使用线索-物体范式评估目标导向注意力，在实验2中，通过视觉搜索任务评估抑制控制。脑电图数据表明，运动组在两个实验中均表现出显著更大的Pd成分，表明注意力焦点增强，对干扰物的抑制得到改善。这些发现表明，有氧运动可增强自上而下的注意力过程，特别是目标导向注意力和干扰物抑制，为高特质焦虑个体提供了潜在的干预手段。
